Though I only get slightly creeped out by the prompt on my iPhone asking me if I’d like to share my location, it is not as invasive as dodgeball or BrightKite. Dodgeball, though purchased by Google, never took off despite the initial shiny factor. BrightKite isn’t taking off because the service doesn’t make much sense. What’s the purpose of these programs? Stalker enablers? I completely understand that they’re “opt-in,” I just don’t want to get that involved … it also speaks to my feelings about Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, etc. (ask me over a drink, I dare you).

Location-based Advertising is going to be a prevalent disruption, this is for sure.

Let’s use Apple’s iPhone as an example (shocker). Imagine if the (newly, much improved) Google Maps application pulls local and relevant advertising just as quick as it can find an address. Imagine if that advertising included Yelp reviews. Imagine of positive reviews that resulted in OpenTable reservations resulted in revenue for that Yelp reviewer? As a foodie, I think this could be the biggest opportunity. Unfortunately, it seems restaurants (conglomerates or local mom and pops) have very low PR budgets.

Location based services are not going to be that big unless they include advertising in the forecast. I don’t think they did and that’s why I think that report was way off… Agree?

Speaking of low PR budgets, and due out very soon on this shelf, “Why Advertising and Marketing Need to Share.”

While everyone is talking about the lines, activation issues, lack of new features, GPS, the genius of certain applications, the impact of certain applications (rightfully so), etc., a much bigger story is taking shape. Millions of people have purchased the new iPhone 3G. In fact, over the weekend alone 1 million were sold. This would leave me to believe (especially considering that our local AT&T shop is out for 7 – 21 days) that many millions more have been sold. While there is no doubt they (Nasdaq: AAPL) will exceed sales expectations and engender millions of new loyal Mac users, they are also doing a huge favor for their partners… both advertising and application. Apple has just created one of the largest advertisement delivery networks ever.

Each user of the new device, as well as the old device, will be consuming content in the most modern way … via RSS feeds and efficient open-sourced applications. I am not quite sure why it has not gotten much coverage yet, but Apple is monetizing their phone better than many websites are. This should be viewed as a very big sea change in advertising (are you watching, Google?). Monetizing Web sites is a somewhat recent invention … not only is Apple selling applications to their users, but they are selling advertising space to their partners … that is, if they are getting this revenue!?!

Having downloaded the 2.0 firmware July 10th, I’ve accessed the NYTimes application several times and only seen this Westin ad. I’m sure I’m not alone … How many people have seen this add? One million? How many iPhone 1.0 and 2.0 users are there? How many times has this application been downloaded? Luckily, I’m sure Apple will be able to tell, in this case, Westin, exactly how many people have seen their advertisement.

To many this doesn’t sound very major. It is. The one thing that advertising and marketing firms have been terrible at, as long as they’ve existed, is precision. PR has always had the expectation of precision: exactly how many papers covered the story; exactly how many people viewed the press release; exactly.

I doubt Apple is going to be providing “Opportunities to View” as the measure to their clients. They will tell Westin exactly how many people saw their ad … they could probably tell them, to a certain degree, who. Regarding precise demographics, which I’m sure AT&T and Apple have, they may be able to tell everything … one via contracts and social security numbers, the other via iTunes and other web habits.

We will see if Apple will squander this opportunity by failing the measurement test or by failing our privacy expectations … I doubt it.

What advertisements have you seen? Which applications are being advertised on/in?